A review copy of the module was provided. Read more Roll20 Reviews and watch the video reviews on myYouTube channel.
Support my video work via Patreon.
MAJOR SPOILERS – DM’s only!
If you’re playing on a virtual tabletop like Roll20, battle maps are always a priority. Tactical Maps Reincarnated features 22 attractive battle maps in a variety of settings, while Adventure Atlas adds optional adventure ideas for each map, including monster tokens, magic items, and player handouts.
The following content is included in the Roll20 bundle, Tactical Maps Adventure Atlas ($24.99):
- Adventure Atlas, including:
- 22 5-ft battle maps, each with four adventure hooks and encounters.
- Over 170 creatures with statblocks and matching tokens.
- Over 50 magic items.
- Over 50 player art handouts of creatures and location.
- Tactical Maps Reincarnated
- The exact same battle maps, without any tokens, items, or adventures.
- Can be purchased separately in 5 and 6 packs by region (Cave, City & Town, Dungeon, and Wilderness).
Both Adventure Atlas and Tactical Maps Reincarnated are map add-ons that need to be added to existing campaigns via the Add-On dropdown menu. Do not add both of them as one will override the other. They include the exact same maps, but Adventure Atlas adds tokens, adventure encounters, magic items, and art handouts.
The map bundles feature 22 battle maps, from neighborhoods, farms, and roads, to frozen caves, magma chambers, and crystal dragon prisons. Each map has four different adventure ideas, or encounters, that can range from 1st level all the way up to 20th, though most maps stick within a 5-level range (Tier 4 heroes probably aren’t dealing with farmland problems, for example).
It’s important to define the scope of these adventures. First, these maps are relatively small. The largest ones average 30×30 squares, enough for around half a dozen rooms, or one large boss chamber. In comparison with Lost Mine of Phandelver , think closer to the map-less areas of Old Owl Well and Wyvern Tor rather than the more substantial dungeons of Redbrandt Hideout and Wave Echo Cave.
The four adventure ideas are encounters you can use to populate each lair map, with most involving a simple story hook and a single encounter.
For example, the old dwarven outpost at Stonehaven could include a pair of trolls under the bridge (8th level), a pair of stone giants attacking from the north (9th level), a summoned marid and water elemental from the waterfall (10th level), or a dao and earth elemental (11th).
Out of those four encounters, the only one that’s more interesting than showing up and killing the monsters is the marid, as one of the dwarves fixing the bridge is secretly a water cultist who has summoned the water creatures and is in the midst of taking over the site.
Roll20 includes all the possible tokens you could need for each encounter in a custom sidebar at the bottom of each map (hidden from players), making it easy to drag tokens onto the map, and all maps feature dynamic lighting (available for Roll20 Pro subscribers).
The neighborhood map of Tallow Town has some fun ideas, especially as it’s designed to take place at night during a festival. The thieves guild can move in to steal from the local workshop (1st), or an evil druid can unleash her animals from her traveling circus (2nd). Or how about a team of modrons showing up to kidnap the former guildmaster because he’s making tainted “chaos candles?”
On the opposite end of the spectrum are the frozen Caves of Tapeesa. All four adventure ideas are simple kill quests for Tier 2-4, including a bhuer hag, remorhaz, ancient white dragon, and nightwalker. Blah.
The maps themselves are some of the best-looking designs I’ve seen, full of color and details. The encounters utilize lots of different monsters, prompting the Adventure Atlas to include over 170 monster tokens and statblocks – a very welcoming purchase if you don’t already own the Monster Manual. Though it also adds to the bloat of the add-on, as there’s no way to add maps individually to a campaign.
The Adventure Atlas also includes some nice art handouts you can show players, depicting monsters, scenes, and locations. Any magic items mentioned as loot in the adventures are also included as separate player handouts, with most including artwork.
If you’re not interested in an of the encounters or monster tokens, you’ll want to check out Tactical Maps Reincarnated. The complete 22-map bundle is $10 cheaper than Adventure Atlas, and includes only the maps themselves.
Even better, you pick from four individual map packs if you only want certain types of maps, such as Cave or City & Town. The smaller map bundles are listed at $4.99 each, which is a great deal, except for the City & Town bundle, which is listed at $9.95 – not so much. Still, even if I’m not a huge fan of the encounter ideas, the high quality maps are definitely worth a purchase. Unless you need the monster tokens, I would recommend Tactical Maps Reincarnated over the Adventure Atlas.
Pros:
- Gorgeous art design on each map.
- Huge variety of maps from caves and towns to underdark caverns, dwarven outposts, and volcano lairs.
- Choice of purchasing with adventures and tokens (Adventure Atlas), just the maps (Tactical Maps Reincarnated) or smaller map bundles.
Cons:
- Every map is relatively small (largest is 34 x 28)
- Most of the adventures are little more than “kill this creature.”
The Verdict: While the adventures themselves leave much to be desired, the nearly two dozen maps featured in Tactical Maps Adventure Atlas are incredibly high quality and desirable for any Roll20 campaign.
A review copy of the module was provided. Read more Roll20 Reviews and watch the video reviews on myYouTube channel.
Support my video work via Patreon.
